"We've lost our Samuel Adams," twittered Mark Tapscott midmorning. "Thoughtful, passionate, complicated. Actually challenged liberals to be better at arguing for what we believe in" said liberal FoxNews contributor Sally Kohn. "Back to blogging!" admonished comrade-in-arms Susie, aka Stoutcat, adding her tears to the torrent of heartbreak, fond memories and renewed resolve that drowned out all else in our twitterstream and on Fox as word emerged, disbelieving tweet by tweet, of Andrew Breitbart's untimely death at age 43 from natural causes. Susie's hashtag, a play on Glenn Reynolds's Army of Davids, resonates:

For me, just one of those memories was in Pella, Iowa, last year after the premiere of “The Undefeated.” Andrew held court in the restaurant at the local hotel talking about his favorite topic: how “culture is upstream of politics” and how conservatives must be unafraid to fight the leftwing media, cultural, and political establishments. The loss of his voice in this fight will be deeply felt, but thankfully his work lives on at his “Bigs,” and thank God for his inspiration and leadership.

Update II:Professor Reynolds links. Be sure to check out related links, including this from that other professor, at Legal Insurrection:

I felt the same way when Dean Barnett (SoxBlogger) and Cathy Seipp (the one and only) passed. I knew none of these folks personally and yet their passings have marked me indelibly in one way or another.

But now I am determined to get back to blogging, one voice in an army of Andrews; and in the back of my mind a little voice is saying we should win 2012 for Mr. Breitbart.

I am one of millions of conservatives who coasted on Breitbart's coattails. I vote the right way and contribute to the right causes but I have never been a leader or a fighter like Andrew. I think it's time to man up and follow where Andrew led.

Great Post. God bless him, all he has done and all he has inspired. I have read and re-read Wordsworth's Character of the Happy Warrior several times today thinking about Mr. Breitbart and this line says it all:

This is the happy Warrior; this is He
That every Man in arms should wish to be.

I know everyone is thinking of him in terms of his leadership in the conservative cause, but I keep thinking of his wife and children. I pray they find the peace and strength to make it through such a devastating loss. *sigh* The rest of us can be resourceful enough to move on. How much harder for his family. May he rest in peace.